UC-NRLF 


SB    27    fiDS 


LOVE 


POEM 


..By.. 

A.  P., CLARK 


f'4 


LOVE 

POEM 


. .  By  . . 
A.  P.  CLARK 


"  SELF  "  PUBLISHING  Co. 

1229  Broadway,  Oakland.  Calif. 

1900. 


A  LOVE  POEM 

BY  A.   P.  CLARK 

(  AME  a  youth  unto  a  maiden,  and  his  step  was  swift  ahcTlight, 

Glowed  his  face  with  happy  loving  and  his  eyes  with  love  were  bright, 

And  with  confidence,  yet  shyly;  all  impetuous,  yet  restrained, 

Did  he  speak  his  heart's  emotions,  plead  to  know  what  he  had  gained. 

Saying,  "  Dost  thou  love  me,  dear  one?     Such  devotion  do  I  feel 
That  to  die  for  you  were  pleasure!     Look  upon  me  as  I  kneel, 

Thou  so  dear  and  thou  so  lovely,  thou  so  more  than  heavenly  sweet, 
Look  upon  me  as  I  loving,  longing,  worship  at  your  feet." 

"  I  will  smooth  for  you  life's  roughness,  guard  you,  keep  you,  you  shall 
know 

Never  care  and  your  desires  shall  need  but  voice,  I  love  you  so. 
Look,  my  angel,  in  my  eyes;  say  thou  wilt  be  mine,  all  mine, 

Give  your  radiant  self  unto  me,  though  un worth  such  gift  divine." 

896009 


And  the  maidei*  answered  slowly,  '  '  Kind  your  words,  and  soft  your  tone 

>..    i      \    '   I  \    -       *• 

A's1  t>be  ^wood;  dove's  to  its  mate  low  calling  'Come;  I  would  not  be 


And  your  eyes  strike  flame  from  mine  until  in  fear  my  lids  droop  down, 
And  you  wear  a  golden  halo,  though  your  ringlets,  dear,  are  brown." 


"Touch  me  not,  for  I  would  call  now  on  the  fruit  of  quiet  hours 
Spent  in  earnest  meditation  in  my  silent  woodland  bowers, 

When  my  chiefest  thought  was  Give  me  light;  though  but  a  maiden  frail, 
Yet  do  I  feel  a  strength  of  soul  that  should  make  lions  quail. ' ' 


"  How  can  I  use  this  strength  to  help  the  weaker  ones  of  earth, 

The  weary  ones,  the  struggling  ones,  the  sinful,  who,  through  dearth 

Of  succor,  fall  and  fall  again?  ah,  friend,  I  hear  their  cries ! 

Now  will  I  speak  my  heart's  deep  thought,  your  answer  in  it  lies!  " 


"  Though  I  love  love  most  dearly  and  you  penetrate  my  heart, 
Yet  would  I  not  love  selfishly,  forget  in  any  part, 

For  love  of  one  my  love  for  all,  and  yours,  though  dear  to  me, 

I  ask,  if  you've  expressed  it  true,  friend;  would  it  leave  me  free  ?" 


Then  spoke  the  youth  impulsively,  his  regnant  pride  inflamed, 

And  rose  the  blood  to  cheek  and  brow,  "I  were  indeed  ashamed 

If  self  here  entered,  I  abase  myself,  my  queen,  my  goddess  dear, 
Be  mine  that  I  may  be  your  slave,  give  over  without  fear." 


"  M-y  admiration  grows  that  you  conceive  these  noble  aims, 

But   leave  them,   sweet,  to  coarser  hands;  such   succor   sometimes 
maims, 

And  I  could  not  allow  the  weight  be  placed  on  her  I  love, 

'Tis  not  a  woman's  place,  I  think;  all  such  she  is  above  !  " 


Then  the  maiden's  eyes  filled  slowly  with  the  scalding  tears  of  pain 

But  her  pale  lips  answered  bravely  "  Though  'tis  golden,  'tis  a  chain; 

I'm  no  angel,  queen,  nor  goddess,  but  a  very  human  woman 

To  whom  freedom  is  as  life  is,  and  who'd  have  a  slave  of  no  man !  " 


So  they  parted,  he  in  anger,  she  in  sorrow  yet  believing 

That  her  way  lay  part  in  giving  and  not  wholly  in  receiving; 

And  she  left  her  woodland  bowers,  put  behind  her  dreaming  days, 

Sighed  no  sighs,  but  thought  of  others,  led   and  helped   through 
tortuous  ways. 


Heart  and  brain  and  hands  were  busy  while  the  sands  of  life  ran  swift, 
And  if  in  her  spirit's  chambers  sad  thoughts  echoed,  if  a  rift 

In  the  lute  her  spirit  breathed  on  left  the  tones  not  silver  clear, 

No  one  knew  it  and  her  presence  carried  hope  and  peace  and  cheer. 


Many  lovers  had  she,  men  and  women  young  and  old, 

And  she  gave  and  gathered,  giving,  love  and  peace  an  hundred  fold. 
So  the  years  passed  by  and  with  them  all  the  child,  the  maiden  shy, 

Leaving  heart  and  life  a  woman's,  making  old  tear  channels  dry. 

But  into  her  life  of  labor  came  again  the  love  of  old 

And  flame  sprang  forth  from  the  ashes  she  had  thought  were  dead 

and  cold, 
And  in  eager  earnest  sought  she,  her  eyes  in  question  set, 

If  in  fullness  might  her  chosen  love  be  granted  yet. 

Beautiful  as  young  Adonis  had  her  youthful  lover  been, 

Years  had  added  manhood's  strength;  now  did  his  brows  together 
lean 

With  a  shade  of  melancholy,  touching  to  a  woman's  eyes, 

And  her  deeper  nature  knew  that  love,  enkindled,  never  dies. 


With  bated  breath  and  marble  cheek,  she  listened  while  he  spoke, 

Steeled  her  will  against  her  feelings,  hid  her  weakness  with  a  cloak 

Of  calmness  that  belied  her  trembling  hand,  her  ashen  lip 

Pressed  against  love's  cup  unknowing  whether  life  or  death  the  sip. 


,"  he  said,  "my  love,  my  dear  one,  I  have  learned  through  years 

of  pain, 

'Mid  the  clamor  of  my  passion,  how  unlimited  its  claim; 
Yea,  it  asked  your  whole  life,  dear  one,  and  subservience  of  your  thought, 
Though  my  youth  knew  not  its  nature,  falsely  named  the  place  it 
sought. 

For  it  cried  Give,  give,  unceasing,  though  it  spoke  the  place  of  slave, 
And  denied,  it  turned  to  anger  till  I  raved  as  mad  men  rave. 

From  this  anger,  as  from  sickness,  slow  I  rose  and  in  its  place 
Came  remorse  and  better  feelings  the  earlier  to  erase. 


All  for  self  has  altered,  dear  one,  for  whatever  change  or  time, 

To  all  for  thee,  thou  noblest  woman,  all  I  have  and  am  is  thine; 

All  I  love  and  all  I  live  for,  all  life's  meaning  sums  to  me 

In  thy  pure  and  perfect  being  and  my  future  lies  with  thee." 


"  If  the  world's  a  field  to  you,  love,  then  to  me  the  world's  a  field, 
For  your  sake,  with  valiant  effort,  I  will  all  my  forces  yield 

To  its  betterment,  if  with  lowly  lives  you  work, 

Then,  for  your  dear  sake,  I'll  labor  where'er  sin  and  suffering  lurk.': 


"Thou  my  guide,  and  thou  my  mentor,  and  I'll  hope  no  dear  surprise, 
Though  the  conservation  of  all  sweetness  slumbers  in  your  heavenly 
eyes. 

Take  me,  love,  and  use  my  powers  as  you  will,  so  that  you  take; 
I  am  humble,  dear,  in  loving  and  I'll  love  all,  for  your  sake." 


Slow  the  woman  raised  with   effort   her   bowed   head   and   looked   him 
through, 

Yet  saw  not,  as  the  portals  of  her  spirit  close  she  drew, 
And  another  woman  spoke,  she  thought,  with  painful  words  and  brief, 

"The  heart  of  me  is  withered  as  the  frost-touched  forest  leaf." 


"I  know  not  how  to  speak  the  words  that  flood  me  and  yet  come 
So  painfully  between  my  lips  my  meaning  still  is  dumb. 

For  every  pang  you  suffer,  there's  another  in  my  breast, 

If  your  lone  heart  is  weary,  nothing,  friend,  have  I  of  rest." 


"Yet,  how  can  I  take  your  freedom  and  accept  as  my  own  meed 

Any  whit  of  that  high  effort,  whether  thought  or  whether  deed, 

Which  should  spring  by  love's  impulsion  toward  all  men  when  self  is  lost, 
For  no  one's  sake  but  for  all's  sake,  freely  given,  without  cost." 


"Too  generous  the  impulse  toward  me  and  your  sacrifice  too  great; 

Nay,  we  cannot  work  together  in  such  fashion.     To  create 
Hearts  at  ease  whose  beatings  measure  time  all  wisely  spent 

Means  no  divorce  from  natural  channels,  but  in  chosen  ways  content." 


"Still  we  touch  not,  friend,  though  longing,  and  I  scarce  have  framed 
you  why 

Only  do  I  feel  'tis  better  neither  you  nor  I 
Should  decline  unto  the  other  but  our  separate  ways  pursue 

Till  we  touch  unstrained  and  equal,  you  with  me  and  I  with  you." 


Again  they  parted  but  a  new  weight  lay  upon  the  lover's  heart 

Knowing  now  the  loved  one  suffered,  knowing  that  in  every  part 

All  his  pain  was  matched  by  her  pain,  but  his  sacrifice  outdone 
From  a  broader  motive  and  a  higher  power  than  he  had  won. 


All  the  growth  of  soul  is  subtle  and  we  pass  through  many  births 
In  a  lifetime,  waking  to  new  heavens  and  new  earths; 

Yet  never  birth  without  the  travail  in  this  world  of  human  kind 
And  the  body  knows  no  torture  keen  as  travail  of  the  mind. 


Time  passed  and  wrought  its  changes  and  once  more  came  the  man 
To  the  woman,  and  he  spoke  thus  saying  "  Dear,  I  am 

All  awonder,  now  while  speaking,  at  the  mask  which  veiled  creation 
From  me  so  I  saw  myself  not  toward  it  in  my  true  relation." 


"  I,  all  I,  my  wish,  my  will  my  poor  horizon  filled, 

Later,  you  and  I  and  our  wish  and  the  things  we  might  have  willed, 
But  your  high  denials  led  me,  through  the  press  of  constant  pain, 

To  see  all  my  aims  unworthy  and  my  soul  was  born  again." 


"  Now  do  my  thoughts  lean  out  to  all,  and  in  love's  name  I'd  give 
The  hand  of  help,  the  word  of  cheer  and  bid  the  fainting  live 

And  feel  my  own  heart  helped:  I  come,  dear,  not  to  ask, 
Not  to  offer  service,  but  to  share  your  noble  task." 


"  First  a  soul  and  then  a  woman,  now  beholding  thee  I  see, 

And  thy  soul  I  touch  with  my  soul,  while  my  hand  seeks  clasp  from 
thee: 

Yet  I  think  we  need  each  other,  we  will  work  to  better  end 

Supplementing  each  the  other,  each  the  other  courage  lend." 


Then  he  held  his  speech  in  wonder  for  from  out  the  woman's  face 
Shone  a  radiant  light  of  gladness  and  within  the  loving  space 

Of  her  arms  she  clasped  him  closely  and  they  looked  each  other  through, 
Felt  the  peace  of  perfect  love,  the  wondrous  old,  the  wondrous  new. 


BLASPHEMY 

Blasphemy  is  impious  language  cast 

'Gainst  sacred  things;  and,  as  I  think 

All  things  are  sacred,  being  made 

By  hand  of  God,  then  must  I  say 

"Naught  can  I  impiously  speak  against; 

Not  man,  nor  beast,  nor  plant,  nor  aught  that  lives, 

Nor  time,  nor  circumstance,  which  represent 

Thoughts  of  the  Creator;  but  must  hold 

Myself,  another  thought,  in  attitude 

Of  reverence  and  love  toward  everything." 

And,  language  comes  not  from  the  mouth  alone, 

For  every  movement,  every  look, 

And  even  the  silent  thought  is  language,  sensed 

Keenly  as  though  the  lips  had  uttered  sound. 

Then  must  I  guard  with  gates  of  love — 

Remembering  infinite  relationships; 

That  I,  a  being  in  a  world  of  such, 

Look  with  that  world  to  God  for  gift  of  life — 

The  portals  of  my  every  mode  of  speech, 

Lest  I  blaspheme.  —A.  P.  Clark. 


Photomount 

Pamphlet 

Binder 

Gay  lord  Bros.,  Inc.1 

Makers 
Stockton,  Calif. 

PAT.  JAN.  21.  1908 


YC   146: 


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